Dave Halliday

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David "Dave" Halliday (December 11, 1897 – January 1970) was a Scottish football player and manager.

Halliday was born in Dumfries and had trained as a mechanic before joining his local side Queen of the South in 1919. He soon moved to St Mirren and then to Dundee in 1921. There he became one of the most prolific centre forwards, finishing as Scottish top scorer in 1923-24 with 38 goals. With Dundee he reached the Scottish Cup final in 1924-25, and in total scored 91 goals in just 125 appearances for the Dees.

In 1925, Sunderland paid £4,000 for his services, and Halliday soon became equally prolific south of the border, scoring more than 30 goals in each of the four seasons, including 43 in 1928-29. His rate for Sunderland was almost a goal a game - 162 goals in 175 appearances in league and cup. In 1929, despite his age (32) he was signed by Arsenal as an intended replacement for Jack Lambert, making his debut against Birmingham City on 9 November 1929.

Halliday scored a comparatively modest number of goals in 1929-30, his first season, with 8 goals in 15 games (including four in a 6-6 draw with Leicester City). However, he was dropped towards the end of the season in favour of Lambert, and missed out the 1930 FA Cup Final, which saw Arsenal claim their first major trophy, as a result. Unable to play at all during the 1930-31 season, he signed for Manchester City only a year after joining Arsenal.

At City he regained his scoring form, hitting 47 goals in 74 games, but missed the 1933 Cup Final, which City lost to Everton. He saw out his career with Clapton Orient between 1933 and 1935, where he was still a regular goalscorer, with 33 in 53 matches. In total, he scored 347 goals in 464 Scottish and English league matches, yet was never once picked for the Scottish national side, being consistently overlooked in favour of Hughie Gallacher.

After leaving Orient, he became player-manager of non-league Yeovil & Petters United, but returned to his native Scotland in 1937 to become manager of Aberdeen. In his eighteen-year stint in charge of the Dons he was the club's most successful manager of before the arrival of Alex Ferguson; Halliday won the 1945-46 League Cup (although this was a reduced version of the League Cup, and does not appear in all official records), the 1946-47 Scottish Cup (as well as reaching the League Cup final that year) and the 1954-55 First Division title, as well as reaching two more Scottish Cup Finals in 1953 and 1954.

After leaving Aberdeen he spent three years at the helm of Leicester City, guiding them to a Second Division title and promotion in 1956-57. He left the Leicester job in 1958 and retired from football after that. He died in 1970, aged 72.

[edit] References

• Harris, Jeff & Hogg, Tony (ed.) (1995). Arsenal Who's Who. Independent UK Sports. ISBN 1-899429-03-4. 
• Webster, Jack (2003). The First 100 years of The Dons: The official history of Aberdeen Football Club 1903 - 2003. Hodder & Stoughton, London. ISBN 0-340-82344-5. 

Preceded by Paddy Travers	Aberdeen FC manager 1938-1955	Succeeded by Davie Shaw
Preceded by Norman Bullock	Leicester City manager 1955-1958	Succeeded by Matt Gillies